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月別アーカイブ: 2013年9月

BEIRUT: A pharmacist was abducted in east Lebanon Sunday, prompting residents to block the road leading to his pharmacy in protest.

Wissam Khatib was opening his pharmacy in Karak al-Maallaqah, in the district of Zahle, when gunmen kidnapped him, the National News Agency reported. The kidnappers were reportedly driving a light blue car.

Late last month, Khatib narrowly escaped a kidnapping attempt after a mugging incident near his pharmacy. The pharmacist had closed his store when armed men in an SUV blocked the road and robbed him.

He managed to escape by flooring the gas pedal, slamming into the other vehicle and speeding off.

After the incident, the Order of Physicians urged police to step up security measures, especially for pharmacists covering night shifts.

Two weeks later, the Order of Pharmacists expressed alarm at the robberies and attacks targeting pharmacies across Lebanon, particularly those that remain open late at night. Security reports cited over eight cases of theft and assault on pharmacies in the past two months.

On Sept. 18, in a bid to pressure authorities to protect them, the order called on pharmacies to close their businesses from noon to 1 p.m., vowing to lengthen the protest if its demands were not met.

The protest went largely unheeded, with some complaining that the hour-long protest was not sufficient pressure to strengthen security measures.

Following Khatib’s kidnapping, residents assembled near the Khatib Pharmacy in the Zahle village and blocked the road with burning tires in protest.

The Order of Pharmacists is slated to hold a news conference Monday to address the issue and announce measures to strengthen pharmacy security.

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Five persons, including three Uttar Pradesh police personnel, engaged in the security of a Samajwadi Party leader, were on Friday arrested for allegedly beating up a chemist after he failed to provide a medicine they had asked for, police said.

The chemist based in South Delhi had accused the daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party leader of getting him beaten up after he failed to provide the medicine.

The chemist had claimed that they had come to buy the medicine for the daughter-in-law of the SP leader. The incident, which was caught on the CCTV camera installed in the shop happened on September 17. Delhi Police had filed an FIR in the case on Thursday, after a week’s delay.